Viagem para Utopia: Dia 2 (versão de LVA)

Minha primeira noite em Toronto foi bem tranquila. A cama era muito confortável e a vizinhança era calma. Tomamos café da manhã, e para o espanto do Dale, eu comi um sanduíche com queijo e tudo mais. Eu sempre tenho que comer que não seja só uma tigela de cereal. Presunto, salame ou queijo são indispensáveis na minha casa. Então nosso plano para a segunda-feira não era de ir muito longe. Acordamos cedo e fomos pro hospital, pois meu anfitrião tinha uma consulta marcada com a fisioterapeuta dele. Para mim, seria interessante conhecer um hospital canadense por dentro.

Passeamos por dentro de um parque e foi lá que vi a primeira placa de rua interessante. Eu já tinha visto muitos animais naqueles sinais de trânsito, nunca uma tartaruga. Deveríamos parar e sermos muito pacientes? Eu imaginei um grupo de tartarugas tentando atravessar a rua e as pessoas e bicicletas esperando por quanto tempo? Meia hora?

Tinha um lago e algumas trilhas. O dia estava bem ensolarado e bonito mas não quente o bastante para nós ficarmos sem um moletom. Continuamos conversando e indo para o hospital.  Todas as coisas me pulavam aos olhos. De novo, eu estava em um país novo, uma nova região, no norte da América do Norte. (No entanto, o leste da Finlândia continua sendo o lugar mais setentrional que já visitei).

Quando saímos do hospital, não mais do que 20 minutos após termos chegado, nós andamos pelo centro de Newmarket. Tudo estava calmo pois a maioria das lojas estava fechada, podíamos ver carros mas poucas pessoas passavam pela gente. Vi alguns prédios históricos como o antigo prédio dos bombeiros e as igrejas. Algumas casas novas, outras mais antigas.

Eis uma típica rua pela qual passamos. Algumas bandeiras, a torre do relógio. Um pouco da história de Newmarket. Dale foi um ótimo guia. (e eu acho que estava uns 15ºC, não 5º!)

(pra onde você acha que essa trilha te levaria?)

Na volta, pelo parque novamente, indo por outras trilhas eu estava feliz porque eu podia observar por todos os lados o tricolor das árvores. Havia o verde, o amarelo e o vermelho. Tantas folhas pelo chão. Tudo o que você tinha que fazer era olhar em volta e ali estava, o cair das folhas, ou como a Wikipedia me ensinou: a abcisão. 

Aqui podemos ver o estacionamento da prefeitura. Nós seguimos uma trilha pelo meio das árvores e chegamos lá sem saber realmente aonde chegaríamos. (esta estratégia não deu assim tão certo em Montréal, como você irá descobrir mais adiante).

A última parte da nossa caminha foi para ver algumas estátuas. Elas foram construídas por ou em homenagens a alguns nativos. A que você consegue ver à esquerda está na próxima foto com maiores detalhes. Nós começamos a pensar o que ela significava. Talvez uma mãe beijando seu bebê? Um homem se alimentando?  Levando algum pão à sua boca? Um cometa? Sim, não chegamos a alguma conclusão, é quase arte abstrata. Impressionante, porém.

Esta também é uma estatua especial. Chama-se Inukshuk. Você pode achar muitas delas em lugares onde houve populações indígenas, mas esta tinha pedras cimentadas. Isto era trapaça, segundo meu amigo, as pedras são normalmente são empilhadas uma em cima da outra. Faz parte da arte. Ok, faltavam expressões emocionais, mas sendo abraçado por um cara tão legal, o senhor Inuk estava realmente feliz.

Depois dessa caminhada era hora para o Dale descansar um pouco  (e eu também) e para nós planejarmos o resto do dia. Decidimos que não iríamos para para Toronto, ficaria muito tarde, então fomos para uma loja de conveniência para comprarmos algumas guloseimas (e alguns ovos de chocolate, aqueles que você compra fora da época da Páscoa), e então fomos pra casa onde o Dale preparou para mim um delicioso sanduíche com ovo e bacon. Depois do almoço ele subiu para seu tradicional cochilo e eu “me conectei” porque eu tinha que trabalhar nas mudanças necessárias na minha apresentação. Os outros dias seriam cheios, então, isso deveria ser feito na segunda-feira. Eu passe a tarde escrevendo (e “facebooqueando”, eu admito) e depois o Dale me ajudou a ensaiar.  Foi tão engraçado o jeito que eu pronunciava algumas palavras e ele ficava, ãhn? Eu fui bem no geral. Nós começamos a conversar sobre o que eu estudo e as impressões dele sobre o livro que estudo. Ele já tinha lido antes de eu chegar lá e as opiniões dele não foram tão positivas como eu esperava. Conversamos sobre utopia e eu considerei a fala pronta. Não perfeita, mas o quão perfeito eu podia devido às circunstâncias. O único problema era que nós não tínhamos controlado o tempo com todas as interrupções para conversar e explicar algum ponto. Eu teria que imaginar (e rezar) que duraria os 20 minutos que planejei que durasse. 

No final da tarde nós fomos visitados por algo que mesmo os locais disseram que não viam desde uma década ou mais:

Mas nós não compramos nenhum sorvete. Serviu como uma feliz experiência da música engraçada e da decoração colorida. Eu nunca tinha visto um desse em Gainesville, então imaginei que eles são uma raridade.

Depois do jantar, nos sentamos mais perto da TV e era hora de assistirmos Dancing with the Stars, o programa favorito do Dale. E de lá para a cama porque o dia seguinte seria cheio.  

Jornada para Utopia: Dia 1 (versão de LVA)

E então, no dia antes da viagem eu estava fazendo as malas e algumas coisas interessantes aconteceram. Eu teria que chegar no aeroporto às 5h30 pois meu voo seria às 6h55. Portanto, os ônibus não estariam funcionando. Eu devia chamar um táxi? Um dos meninos que mora comigo, o Steve, me ofereceu uma carona. Eu não queria aceitar porque ele trabalharia até às 2h e teria que acordar às 8h para ir trabalhar de novo. Eu achei que seria pedir demais.

E também, tinha uma festa pra ir. Seria a minha primeira festa em uma casa. E o pessoal que estava organizando a festa era um dos mais simpáticos que eu conheci aqui. Não teria como eu não ir. Então, eu peguei emprestado a bicicleta do Steven e pedalei 20 minutos até chegar na festa. Mesmo que eu tenha tentado ir devagar e era uma ladeira, eu cheguei lá empapado de suor. Eu acorrentei a bicicleta em uma árvore e quando eu estava entrando alguém me disse que eu deveria pagar um ou dois dólares. Eu não previ isso e tinha apenas meu ID (RG) e meu cartão de crédito comigo. Um dos meninos que me conhecia me reconheceu e me deu um copo e disse que eu não precisava pagar nada. A festa já estava cheia. Eu procurei meus amigos e eles já estavam se divertindo muito. Mesmo pessoas que eu não pensei que estariam lá estavam. A música estava uma loucura, as pessoas estavam se divertindo muito e a polícia apareceu duas vezes. Uma festa universitária típica. Quando era por volta das duas, e mesmo não dando tchau, eu fui embora para pedalar de volta para casa. Foi mais difícil para voltar porque era subida. Eu consegui e cheguei em casa, tomei um banho e tinha algumas horas para dormir.

Quando era 5h30 eu ouvi o alarme do Steven, e o meu também. Me vesti e peguei alguma coisa para comer. Ele me levou até lá e eu não tinha palavras para agradecê-lo por ter feito isso. Ainda estava escuro.

Passar pela segurança foi moleza. Os voos não tiveram atraso e eu mal vi alguma coisa porque estava muito cansado. A única coisa que eu estava curioso pra ver era que o capitão tinha dito que nós passaríamos por cima dos Everglades antes de chegar em Miami. Então eu queria ver isso porque eu não tinha ideia se eu veria em algum momento em breve. E eu acordei bem na hora para tirar algumas fotos dos pântanos.


Nada de interessante aconteceu no aeroporto de Miami. Alguns brasileiros, um monte de judeus e o embarque para o próximo voo foi tranquilo. O único problema com o próximo voo foi que uma família sentou na fila atrás de mim e as meninas tinham vozes irritantes e ficaram choramingando o tempo todo. Isso foi de tirar do sério. Eu consegui dormir, mesmo assim, mas um casal de meia idade que estava sentado do meu lado não estava encarando aquilo muito bem. A mulher começou a reclamar sobre as garotas, nós começamos a conversar e ela me deu várias dicas e coisas que eu devia fazer em Toronto. Eles estavam voltando de um excursão para o Peru e nós falamos sobre a América Latina.

Quando cheguei no aeroporto, eu tinha que comer alguma coisa. Eu procurei e procurei por lugares para comer e a praça de alimentação era escondida atrás dos balcões de embarque. Eu decidi comer um kebab, que era muito caro pelo o que foi servido. Eu esperava mais, então eu deveria ter ficado com qualquer coisa já conhecida por mim. Eu tinha alguma horas para esperar que o Dale estivesse pronto, então eu procurei uma tomada e me conectei com a internet. Antes que eu percebesse, já era a hora de eu ir para o ponto de ônibus para pegar o ônibus para Newmarket. Eu troquei algum dinheiro, peguei o ônibus e fui para o terminal.
Depois, esperei uns cinco minutos até que o Dale chegasse. E estava imaginando que ele estaria de muletas mas ele não estava. Eu estava tão animado e pensando que aquilo era como um momento histórico, o primeiro encontro depois de anos de uma amizade virtual. No entanto, ele é prático e pé-no-chão e o encontro não foi nem mágico nem impressionante. Foi engraçado. Então nós pegamos um ônibus e fomos para a casa dele. Ele foi me mostrando e falando sobre os lugares que passávamos. Ele era bastante autentico e espirituoso, uma pessoa bastante observadora. Eu percebi então que nos daríamos bem.
Na sua casa ele me apresentou para sua mãe Edna. Ela era uma pessoa falante e amigável. Nós nos sentamos, falamos sobre vários assuntos. Eu mostrei pra ele um pouco do material que eu peguei no aeroporto e nós decidimos o que visitaríamos nos próximos dias.

Depois de um jantar apetitoso, nós subimos e vimos um filme. Bem, uma parte dele. Dale nunca me perdoou por eu ter pedido para parar o filme nem no meio dele.

Journey to Utopia: Day Three

(a spoiler before we start: of you scroll down, this post is long, reaaally long,  but it is because I put 36 pictures here. I went to many places and took about twice this number of photos, so the text will be guided by the pictures, not the other way around. Don't panic! I'll let you through it in the blink of an eye) 

So we woke up early and commuted to Toronto. We used this very confortable double-decked train and the ride was very nice (I think I dozed for some time, but not in this first day).This is the people getting off at Union Station, Toronto. 

We got on the subway and the first place we visited was Casa Loma. It was the only castle in Toronto, but no Royal personality has ever lived there. Of course, to get there, we had to leave the subway station and  go up a lot of stairs because they would never have built the station up the hill.

As we were getting there, this is the the outside view. It doesn't seem very big or impressive from the outside. We entered and there was a very interesting 20-minute movie about the construction of the castle. Also, they had very good audio-guides included in the price and some information about the house in Portuguese.

Basically, the guy had it built was a soldier and had a very lucky youth life. He broke a record in running and got as high as being owner of 1/4 of Canadian economy. He loved the Royal Family and started building the house to host them when they came to Toronto. They never came, the house took more years and loads of more money than planned to be built and in fact was never finished as it had been projected.

Sir Pallett, the owner, lived up to his 80's and saw two wifes go, all his fortune be lost in the Crash of 29, War, and in other events. After he could not afford to own any longer, the Casa Loma became a Hotel for some time and after that, a museum.

Above we have a view of the main lobby from the second floor. Down, some mirrors in the closet and me, trying to take those mirror photos (but with shirts on, please)

There were more places than only the fancy and weird toilets, bedrooms. Teh house was really big on the inside. There is a tower, which was built later on and we went up there, even though it was at our own risk.

The view of the city was wonderful. However, the growl of wind made us abbreviate our short visit to the tower at the top of the hill.

Also, we found out the guy built a tunnel under the street because part of the house like the gardens, the garage and the stables were across the street and the employees could not cross when the traffic was busy. We visited this other part of the house and learned a bit more about how Sir Henry Pellatt refused to give a duke his favorite horse.

From there, we decided to walk toward downtown. I wanted to see the ethnic areas, there was almost a street for each nationality. I liked to observe the architecture of the city and some really called my attention.

We walked past almost all universities of Toronto. One we discovered by chance, Dale was not sure what there was on a certain street but a lot of people were walking there, with backpacks and notebooks so we followed.
This path was near some of the buildings of the university. It is integrated to the city, it is not a university city or campus outside or different from the rest.

Our first destination was Chinatown: the only place you could buy underwear for 5 $ and you could get 5 t-shirts for 10 $. It was like a mixture of Liberdade (a Japanese neighborhood) and 25 de Março (a street market in São Paulo). We walked around the place looking for  Kensington Market. We walked on Oxford and it was the first time I saw the street signs in two languages. This is very interesting and very beautiful. As you change areas, the signs have different designs and languages.

This Market is not really a big building or warewhose with stores but is a block and a set of small stores selling completely everything you can imagine - there was even a cannabis store.

We were getting hungry and decided to get some Asian food. The option was a restaurant called "The Golden Pineapple", which was a Vietnamese and Thai restaurant. It looked good from the outside, not sketchy at all, the service was not the best one, and the women who worked there did not stop speaking for a second. Dale thought she was impolite, but I thought she was just... too misunderstood in her art of serving.

Walking away from the restaurant and looking for our new destination (we had so many, I don't know which one it was) our attention was drawn to a very peculiar architectural oddity. While all the houses in the street looked like the middle one and the one on the left, there was this black and glassy monolith-like house. It seemed it had fell from space because we could not see how it would be there, like 100 years away from all the neighboring houses. Was this on Spadina? Definitely an incidental must-see.

Some more steps (maybe more than my newly-almost-not-healed friend and [spiritual??] guide Dale should be walking) and we saw this weird building again. Of course, it could be nothing but the art gallery. There are two pictures of two sides of it. And it was born this way: love it or leave it. (We are going back to it when I am telling day 5)

Our next stop was Eaton Centre, a fancy shopping mall, with not so fancy people. It is one of the landmarks in Toronto because of this glass roof and the birds, always flying south, every season. I bought some postcards, then just took some photos and we resumed our way toward the lake. I guess that was our main destination.

We walked past the old city hall.

Got to the new City Hall, but my camera got crazy and it made me believe the battery was low. (the building on the bacground is not the city hall, but it was next to it)

And everywhere in the city, there it is, beautiful and soaring, the CN Tower. I had planned going up there at night, to see the lights and wonder. So, wait for day 5, and I'll tell you more about it.

The next stop was the building of CBC, a Canadian television network. There were some stores and that was the building where they produced the programs. The entrance lobby had a studio where they had one of the programs. The following image is exactly the main lobby ceiling. Famous people could be coming and going but they are Canadian people so I would not recognize them anyway. There was a small museum inside the building. There were pictures and materials about the history of telecommunications, old microphones, tvs and programs showing. The puppets were part of Sesame Park, the Canadian version of the children's show. Dale was so amused to see them there.

Here is a picture of Dale with his favorite newsman.

And a different perspective of the main lobby. This one is part of a contest they are performing to choose the new Dorothy for the musical they are producing.

Again, the CN Tower, from a different perspective.

And we finally arrived at the Lakefront. Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. There were people walking and running and just chilling there. There was even a guy sleeping near where we decided to sit. The day was beautiful so we sat there, relaxing, sunbathing and enjoying the breeze. We were tired and decided to consider the tour day over. We were near Union Station, so that was where were heading for, to get the last train to Newmarket.

On the way to the station to commute back home, we had to make a stop by a stall and Dale was craving for a Traditional Torontian Snack: the hot dog. This is mine. He made fun of how slow I would eat it but I don't manage to walk and take the train and eat. So, be patient.

On the train we had a lot of fun, listening to music and talking. Dale was blushing because I got the camera and said I was going to take a picture of a guy who was sitting some rows away from us and he thought I really would and got embarrassed, but I ended up taking a picture of us instead.

(That night we had the finals of Dancing with the Stars!) 

Journey to Utopia: Day Two

My first night in Toronto was very peaceful. The bed was very comfortable and the neighborhood was calm. We had breakfast, and to Dale's amazement, I had a sandwich with cheese and all. I need to have something other than only a bowl of cereal. Ham, salami or cheese are must-haves back home. So our plan  for Monday was not to go very far. We woke up early and went to the hospital as my host would have his Physiotherapist appointment. For me, it would be interesting to see a Canadian hospital from the inside.

We walked through a park and it was there I saw my first interesting sign. I have seen many animals in those crossing signs, never a turtle. Should we stop and be very patient? I pictured a herd of turtles trying to cross the pathway and people and bikes waiting for what? Half an hour?

There was a lake there and some trails. The day was very sunny and beautiful but not warm enough for us to do well without sweaters. We kept talking and going to the hospital. All the things were calling my attention. Again, I was in a new country, a new region, on the north of North America. (However, East Finland still stands as my Northernmost point visited). 

As we left the hospital, not more than 20 minutes after we had arrived, we walked around the center of Newmarket. Everything was calm because most of the stores were not open, we could see some cars but few people walked by us. I saw some historical buildings like the old firehouse and the churches. Some new houses, some old ones. 

Here is a typical street we went by. Some flags, the clock tower. Some history of Newmarket. Dale was a very good guide. (and I think it was 15ºC, not 5!)

 (where do you think this trail would be taking you?)

On the way back, through the park again, going by other trails I was happy because I could observe everywhere the three colors of the trees. There was the green, the yellow and the red. So many leaves on the ground. All you had to do was look around and there it was, the fall foliage, or as Wikipedia taught me: abscission.

Here we can see the parking lot of the City Hall. We followed a trail in the middle of the woods and got there without really knowing where we would be getting at. (this strategy did not turn out this well in Montréal, as you'll come to know later).

The last part of our walk was to see some statues. They were built by or in homage to some natives. The one you can see on the left is shown in the next picture in more details. We started wondering what it meant. Maybe a mother kissing her baby? A man feeding? Taking some bread into his mouth? A comet? Yeah, we didn't come to any conclusion, it is almost abstract art. Impressive though.

This one is also a special statue. It's called Inukshuk. You can find many of them in places where there are Native or First People, but this one had some stones welded together with cement. This was cheating, according to my friend, they stones are normally piled one on the others. It's part of the artistry of it. Ok, it lacks emotional expressions, but he was being hugged by such a nice guy, Mr Inuk was so vey happy.

After all this walking it was time for Dale to rest a bit (and me too) and for us to plan the rest of the day. We decided we were not commuting to Toronto, it would be too late, so we went to a convenience store to get some snacks (and some chocolate eggs, the ones you buy out of Easter season), then headed home where Dale prepared me a delicious egg and bacon sandwich. After lunch he went upstairs for his traditional nap and I "plugged in" because I had to work on the changes I needed to do for my paper. The other days would be busy so it had to be Monday. I spent the afternoon writing (and facebooking, I admit) and Dale helped me rehearse. It was so funny the way I pronounced some words and he would be like, wtf? I did okay overall. We started talking about what I study and his impression on the book I study. He had read it before I got there and his opinion was not as positive as I expected. We talked about utopia and I considered the paper done. Not perfect, but as perfect as I could get it under the circumstances. The only problem was we did not control the time, with all the interruptions to talk and to explain. I would have to imagine (and pray) it would take the 20 minutes I had to make it have.

In the late afternoon we were visited by something even the local said he hadn't seen in a decade or more:

We didn't get any ice-cream though. It was for the happy experience.of the funny music and the colorful decoration. I never saw one of those in Gainesville, so I imagine they are a rarity.

Afterdinner, we sat closer to the TV and it was time to watch Dancing with the Stars, Dale's favorite program. And up to bed because the day after would be a busy one.